The Weekender is almost upon us!

One more sleep, one more sleep. A colossal celebration of PC gaming is upon us: the PC Gamer Weekender opens its doors tomorrow morning from 9am. Weekender Plus passes are fresh out of stock and Saturday is filling up fast, but we still have a few Sunday tickets lurking in the corners. If you need convincing beyond "a colossal celebration of PC gaming", I've rounded up my personal favourites among the festivities.

Free stuff!

I still have the student impulse to horde any free stuff I can find, because you never know when it'll come round again. Thus it's with envy that I eye your £15 ticket (plus 20% off with the code PCG20) and the mass of goodies it comes with. Free Dark Souls. Free Dustforce. A free Sega game just for playing something in the Sega Zone, and the chance to win the entire Sega Steam catalogue.

Blood sport!

When I play Rocket League online, it saddens me that I can't see the light of hope leave my opponents' eyes. If you share that longing, head over to the Tournament Gaming Area and take on fellow weekenders in Dota 2, League of Legends, Rocket League, Street Fighter 5 and Hearthstone.

Dark Souls 3!

Dark Souls 3 isn't out until April, but it is at the PC Gamer Weekender, and yes, you can play it. Alternatively, you can embarrass yourself in front of your friends by getting smushed into paste.

Visions of a near future!

The HTC Vive will be on the show floor for you to try. Unless you've got £800 lying around spare, it's a rare chance to gaze into the dual displays of a VR frontrunner before prices get competitive.

Total War: Warhammer!

Another of our pre-release superstars, Total War: Warhammer, will be yours to command come the weekend. What corners of the Old World will you conquer? What catastrophic strategic mistakes will you make?

The hard stuff!

PC gaming is about more than clever code and pretty graphics—you need brutish, futuristic hardware to get going, and if you want to get the most from it, you have to do the research. Luckily, experts will be on hand in the hardware zone full of wisdom on building and modding your own PC.

Stellaris on-stage!

No one outside Paradox has seen the supermassive 4X/grand strategy fusion Stellaris as complete as it will be at the PC Gamer Weekender. Game director Henrik Fåhraeus and producer Anna Norrevik will be on-stage presenting Paradox's most ambitious game yet.